Dozens of dentists across Merseyside stopped working in the NHS work last year, as politicians and professional leaders warn of a national staffing “crisis” in the sector.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the shortages would leave people in pain, while the British Dental Association (BDA) said the figures reflected a “broken system”.
Some 874 dentists were recorded as doing NHS work across the six Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) areas serving Merseyside in 2020-21, down by 52 from 926 the previous year.
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That’s a 6% reduction, which was greater than the 4% drop seen across England as a whole.
The figures were published by the Government in response to a Parliamentary Question by Mr Davey.
Dentists will be counted more than once if they have a contract in more than one CCG.
The biggest drop proportionally across Merseyside was seen in St Helens, where the figure fell by 24 (17%), to 121.
That was followed by Knowsley where it dropped by 16 (15%) to 92, while in Liverpool the number of dentists decreased by 19 (7%), to 271.
The only areas to see an increase were South Sefton, where the number rose by two, to 105, and Southport and Formby, where it increased by eight, to 87.
Across England, there were 23,733 dentists undertaking NHS work in 2020-21, down nearly 1,000 from 24,684 a year earlier.
Responding to the figures, Mr Davey said: “The lack of NHS dentists across the country is a real crisis for people.
“As well as being unable to sort out dental pain in the short term, people are storing up problems for the future without regular check-ups.
“The Conservatives talk a good game about the NHS, but leaving so many people without access to a dentist shows just how little they really care about the nation’s health.”
BDA chairman Eddie Crouch warned a growing number of dentists couldn’t see a future for themselves in a service “plagued by failed contracts and underfunding”.
Mr Crouch said: “For over a decade, dentists have worked to a broken system that has singularly failed to recognise and reward commitment to the NHS.”
He added that “fanciful” targets brought in from January 1, which mean practices could face financial penalties if they do not meet 85% of their pre-Covid activity levels, could be the “final nail in the coffin”.
Across Merseyside, the 874 dentists doing NHS work in 2020-21 was still more than the 804 recorded in 2011-12, the earliest year for which figures were available.
This reflected the trend across England as a whole – 22,920 were recorded in 2011-12, which was 813 fewer than in 2020-21.
But the BDA said the figures did not tell the whole story as they counted the number of dentists doing at least “some” NHS work, regardless of whether the majority of their activity was in the private sector.
It said that, while the headcount had risen in the years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the overall amount of dental activity recorded by NHS dentists had dropped.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have taken unprecedented action to support NHS dentists throughout the pandemic, including by providing full income protection for practices unable to deliver their usual level of activity.
“The targets set are based on what can safely be achieved, as well as data on dental activity carried out to date – with exemptions in place for practices who have extenuating circumstances.
“Dental practices have been able to deliver face-to-face services since June 2020 and urgent care is back to pre-pandemic levels with over 700 practices providing additional urgent treatment.”
